“I approached Amy Crosby, Marketing Team Leader│Community Liaison, at Whole Foods with this project. In LIVE painting around Portland for two years…the Boyd Street Garden Location was the first time that I got to interact with Maine’s Refugee Community. I was fascinated by the Urban Garden; plots of land rented by residents and managed though the fabulous organization- Cultivating Community. With Whole Foods Market Portland directly across the street I was curious about the relationship between garden and store. I found out that Whole Foods is a promoter and sponsor for many of Cultivating Community’s existing programs such as the Refugee Produce Stand Weekly in front of the store which enables gardeners to sell their vegetables and receive 100% of the profit. Also the Summer Teen Gardeners Program which pays teens to work the gardens and learn cooking and nutrition. But what about ART!?? I know from years of experience that ART transcends language and cultural divides.

The LIVE Painter does three things!:

1. Alters the Environment

2. Creates Spontaneous Community

3. Induces Relaxation/ meditative contemplation

and can certainly create a bridge “Across Franklin Street” to the resources Whole Foods has to offer!

Sketching in the Salad: Mixing Art and Science in the Aisles
September 2015-April 2016

A series of Whole Foods in-store art classes focused toward children, teens, and adults. The classes will combine art instruction specifically monochromatic sketching and contour drawing around the store. Lessons will provide art instruction as well as education identifying and introducing specific fruits, vegetables, and proteins. Students will taste, feel, learn the history of the specific product, its uses, nutritional benefits…and really study the item through drawing. The Artist will collaborate with Whole Food’s Employees in planning and teaching the lesson. Class sizes will range from 4-10 students.

Erin McGee Ferrell is inspired by architecture merging with landscape. The artist notices the spaces of sky and buildings between suspended electrical lines, seeking to paint the moments of sky that occur between the floors of a parking garage. Drawing is the foundation of her work as an artist. McGee Ferrell’s work may scream abstraction, but underneath adheres to visual accuracy and measurement. Addicted to adrenaline, the artist paints in highly public places where she is forced to paint fast and true. Recent work has focused on the merging of urban and coastal architectural structures in Philadelphia and Maine. McGee Ferrell is a natural entrepreneur who is determined to be an influential and important Contemporary American Artist.

Erin McGee Ferrell studied oil painting at Mount Holyoke College, Pennsylvania Academy of Art, University of the Arts Philadelphia, and The University of Louisville, KY. She has studied and created art in Italy and Nigeria. Collectors include TD Ameritrade, AtlantiCare New Jersey, Jones Lang LaSalle Americas, INC. Philadelphia, The Episcopal Diocese of Boston, the CEO of Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and professional athlete Kimmo Timonen.